


Puppy ( or should I say, Kitty) Love

by zayniekins



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Worker!Louis, animal shelter! au, loyal visitor!zayn, manager!harry, worker!liam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-26 15:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5009890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zayniekins/pseuds/zayniekins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on prompt: I work at the animal shelter and you always come in to pet the cats when you're sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy ( or should I say, Kitty) Love

People would say that working at an animal shelter wasn’t a happy job but Liam would beg to differ. He could find many moments where he was grateful for the existence of the animal shelter in his life.   
  
The animal shelter was basically the cause of one of the happiest days of his entire life.   
  
The day he fell in love. 

* * *

“Thank you for adopting Buffy,” Liam said to an elderly man, happily. The young lad held the mocha-coloured puppy in his arms and gave it one last scratch behind the ears before handing him over to his new owner.   
  
“Now, remember, no chewing slippers, alright?” Liam told the pup. It yapped back at him as if it was saying ‘yes sir’. Liam chuckled at the sight of the happy puppy. Though he was sad to see Buffy leave the animal shelter, he was quite grateful that Buffy can experience a better life outside of it.   
  
“Don’t worry,” the elderly man said, petting the young pup in his arms as he walked to the exit with Liam trailing behind him. “I’ll take good care of him. I’ve always been fond of dogs.”  
  
Liam smiled and he opened the door,“ That’s great to hear.” The old man walked out, waving at Liam and Buffy wagged his tail and barked a couple of times.   
  
“I’ll thank my friend’s son for recommending this place,” the old man shouted.   
  
Liam waved back and watched the two until they got into a car and drove away. He sighed, whenever an animal left the shelter, it was quite hard on Liam. He had bonded with them all and loved every one of them. But he was glad that if they got adopted, it would mean a better life for them.   
  
The young lad remembered when he found Buffy, stranded on its own in the rain. He was quick to take him to the shelter and nurse him back to health. For the first few months, Buffy was quiet and meek. Once he was comfortable, the puppy showed how loud and hyperactive he could be. Liam had quite the adventure training him.   
  
Now, the puppy had a new owner and Liam would miss him dearly.   
  
Liam didn’t realize that he had been  holding the door open and staring out at the parking lot until a finger poked him in the cheek. He snapped out of his reverie immediately.  
  
“Why have you been staring out for so long?” Louis Tomlinson, his fellow colleague asked with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. Louis was quite the loudmouth and a master of pranks. He had once set all the animals free and cackled at the sight of Liam chasing them around to get them back into their cages.   
  
Not only that, Louis had once wedged a bucket of bird food above the door to the entrance so early in the morning and when Liam came in (the intended victim), all the bird food came raining down on him, soiling his clothes and the bucket hit his head.   
  
Those were only two of his notorious pranks. He had done many more and it was a wonder why he had not been fired yet though Liam had a feeling that it was because he was screwing the manager of the shelter, Harry Styles.   
  
Harry was such a sweetheart. He was quite the charmer with his sparkling green eyes, cute dimples and luscious curls. He towered over Louis, being six foot and all (don’t tell Louis otherwise he would try to convince you that he is 5 foot 9) but he moved with a slight lankiness to his frame.   
  
Whenever Louis did a prank, Harry would just reprimand him, as if that had any effect on Louis. Liam sensed a slight favoritism because of that but he did not mind because sometimes, Harry would give him a bonus out of nowhere.   
  
Liam liked to think that it was compensation for having to deal with their lovey dovey moments at the shelter.   
  
“It’s nothing, Lou. Just watched Buffy leave the shelter forever,” Liam let out a heavy sigh and closed the door to the shelter before walking back to the reception desk. Louis rolled his eyes and trailed after him.   
  
“Liam, it’s just a dog,” he deadpanned, leaning against the desk. Liam sat down behind it and gave him a scowl.   
  
“I’ll have you know that animals have feelings,” he responded, slightly miffed. “They’re not just animals but then, you wouldn’t know because you’re hardly around them.”

Louis narrowed his eyes at that jab. “I’ll have you know that I do know that they have feelings. And excuse you, if I am hardly around them as you claim, why do you think I took a job at this shelter in the first place?”

“Because you fancy the boss,” Liam replied. He felt smug when he saw Louis blush.

“Please, I actually care about the animals,” Louis scrambled to get his dignity together. Liam gave him a knowing look and Louis let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m serious! Am I not compassionate?”

“‘Course you are, Lou,” Harry said, coming out of his office and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Louis crossed his arms and pouted like a petulant child.

“Liam thinks otherwise,” he told the taller boy. “I don’t get why you don’t just fire him.”

Harry let out a chuckle. “If I did fire him, then who would take care of the shelter with me?”

“Well, I could,” Louis responded. Liam and Harry shared a look and laughed. Louis frowned. “I’m being serious.” To that, the other two laughed even harder.

Before Louis could scold the duo, the door to the shelter was opened and a lad wearing a red sweater walked in. The laughing two sobered up immediately when they saw who it was.

“Hello, Liam,” the red-sweater guy greeted Liam in a tired tone.

“Hi, Zayn,” Liam greeted him back. “The usual, I guess?”

Zayn nodded and held up a small bag, “I brought some catnip if that’s alright with you. ”

Liam gave him a soft smile. “Go right ahead.” Zayn gave him a grateful look and walked through the door that lead to the feline section of the shelter.

“Oi, he didn’t even say hi to us! Who does he think he is?” Louis cried out, annoyed. “And the usual, Liam? What was that about? Sounded almost like you were a prostitute offering him your services.”

Harry rubbed Louis’ shoulders, trying to drain the anger out of him.

“That was Zayn,” Liam said and Louis scoffed a 'You said his name already so I know’. Liam ignored his rude tone. “He comes here a lot, just to pet the cats.”

“Did he ever adopt one?” Harry asked. Liam shook his head.

“Nope, he just pets them.”

Louis coughed into his fist, “Weirdo.”

Harry rolled his eyes fondly at Louis. “Why does Zayn always look sad?”

Liam shrugged, “ I don’t know but when he goes home after seeing the cats, he’s always happy.”

Louis coughed again, “Double weirdo.”

Harry left after that to finish up some paperwork and Louis followed him into his office which left Liam at the front desk alone. With nothing better to do, Liam went to look for Zayn.

The lad found Zayn in the middle of a circle of cats, all meowing and vying for his attention. The raven-haired lad was laughing and Liam could not think of a more beautiful sight.

Did he forget to mention that he had a tiny crush on Zayn?

Zayn’s eyes crinkled with happiness and his tongue was pushed behind the upper row of his teeth. His face radiated joy and Liam had to remind himself to breathe. Zayn’s hazel-coloured eyes flickered up and met his.

“Hi,” he said, shyly before stroking a cat that had been pushing its head at his hand. Liam knelt down next to him.

“Hi,” he said back. They spent the next few moments in silence, stroking the cats and feeding them catnip. Liam couldn’t help but sneak a few glances at the guy, fawning over how content he looks.

“My dad’s friend said that he enjoys Buffy’s company,” Zayn started talking out of the blue.

Liam’s eyes widened, “So you were the one that recommended us!”

Zayn shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Couldn’t have thought of a better place. This shelter takes care of the animals better than any other. ”

Liam hummed, “That’s because we always get this anonymous donation through the mail that helps keep this place together.” It was true, every two weeks, Liam would check their mail to find an envelope full of a large sum of money and a note telling him that it was for the shelter to use.

After he told Zayn about the anonymous donation, Liam felt the other lad stiffen. Immediately, he had a creeping suspicion that Zayn had something to do with it. "Zayn, did you have something to do with the donations?" Liam asked, slowly as to not frighten the other lad. Zayn busied himself by feeding a few more cats, stalling the inevitable.

Once he realized that Liam was still waiting for an answer, he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "I might."

Liam gasped, "So you did! But why?"

Zayn shrugged, " I just wanted to make sure that they have a place to stay," he nudged his head to the general direction of the cats that were busy grooming themselves.

At this point, Liam thought he might have already fallen in love.

"Why not just adopt one?" Zayn shook his head.

"I can't," he responded, dejectedly. "'M not good with commitment and taking care of stuff. At least here, I know the cats and other animals are in good hands."

Liam flushed at the indirect compliment.

"I did want to do my part so I decided to donate the money. "

"But why? You didn't have to," Liam said, confused.

"I could ask you the same thing," Zayn replied. "You didn't have to take care of the animals so lovingly yet you still did, unlike your colleague."

"Louis is actually pretty nice once you get to know him," Liam defended his friend. Zayn hummed in response.

They fell into another comfortable silence, just basking in each others presence. 

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you come to the shelter all the time?" Liam asked. When he saw that Zayn looked hesitant, he worried that he had overstepped the boundary.

"It's an escape from my crappy life, I guess,"Zayn said so quietly that Liam had to strain his ears to hear him. "To see the happy faces of the animals, especially the cats and realize that it is the one thing I am not messing up. "

"I'm sure your life isn't that bad, Zayn," Liam spoke. Zayn seemed to contemplate this and he chuckled.

"I suppose it isn't," Zayn agreed. "Not with you in it."

Liam was rendered speechless.  _Smooth_ , a voice in his mind said.

"I fancy you, Liam," Zayn continued timidly as if expecting rejection. Liam gave him a huge smile.

"I actually fancy you too," Liam told him and Zayn beamed at him.

* * *

On that day, Zayn stepped out of the shelter happier than usual and Liam felt proud that he was the major cause of it.

This was probably one of those moments in Liam's life where he truly was grateful for the presence of the shelter in his life.

Who said that animal shelters didn't provide joy?

**Author's Note:**

> Did you likeeee??


End file.
